Noted

The world’s eight richest individuals are worth as much money as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world, according to a new Oxfam report. Those billionaires include Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg— worth $75 billion, $61 billion, and $45 billion, respectively—and have an overall wealth of $426 billion between them, compared with the $409 billion owned by the world’s poorest 50 percent.

BBC News

New York City officials have slaughtered nearly 70,000 gulls, starlings, geese, and other birds around the city’s three main airports since a collision with several Canada geese knocked out two engines and forced a jetliner to land in the Hudson River in 2009. But bird strikes of a less damaging nature continue on an almost daily basis at the three airports.

Associated Press

The number of Americans killed in lightning strikes has plummeted from about 400 people a year in the 1940s to 23 in 2013—the fewest on record. Experts attribute the drop in deaths to urbanization, technological farming improvements such as covered tractors, and education about lightning safety.

President Obama, whom critics called the “golfer-in-chief,” played 306 rounds of the game in his eight years in office. That’s higher than most of his predecessors, but President Dwight Eisenhower played an estimated 800 rounds in office.

The Daily Telegraph (U.K.)

The Trump transition team raised more than $100 million from donors for the inauguration celebrations. Among those who funded the events were Chevron, which donated $500,000; Boeing, which contributed $1 million after Trump said it was charging too much to build a new Air Force One; and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who gave a reported $5 million.